If all stories were written like science fiction stories: “They selected one of the hydrocarbon-powered ground transports from the queue which waited outside the airport. The fee was small enough that it was not paid electronically, but using portable dollar tokens. The driver conducted his car unit into […]
The Flick Filosopher thinks The Village mistakes a twist ending for good writing: “[Shyamalan] figured Let’s go all the way and make a film that’s nothing but secret sauce. It makes for a film that is frustrating and tedious and then — bam! — slams the audience with […]
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“I find it sadly ironic that in worlds only limited by our imagination, no one seems to have one.” Bill Harris (on his blog on sports videogames, Dubious Quality) talks about why City of Heroes doesn’t excite him.
Tee Morris at Strange Horizons worries about elitism in science fiction, gets scathingly rebuked by Nick Mamatas, and less scathingly commented on by Matthew Cheney over at Mumpsimus.
“A sprawling, ambitious form of comic-book meta-fiction”
Zachary Houle writes about Michael Chabon’s latest: “The Escapist project is a sprawling, ambitious form of comic-book meta-fiction that bounces back-and-forth between rediscovered potboilers from the ’40s to ’80s and scholarly essays offering context and academic takes on these works.”
Clive Thompson wrote a terrific article on the economics of massive multiplayer online games that goes beyond the usual “people are making money with their hobby!” coverage and explores what virtual economics says about capitalism at large. Wonderfully readable, too.
The Cultural Gutter 